As someone who played TES series since Arena, and considers Daggerfall and Morrowind to be the best entries I'm not really that amazed by recent direction the franchise took. Skyrim felt bland already and ESO seems to only take the things I didn't like about it to next level.
there was a questionaire sent from dev asking for thoughts on various stuffs. i did also comment that the game felt too much skyrim and not enough of (in my case) Morrowind. which is a shame because i think Morrowind is one of the best RPGs and much more could be pulled from it.
re: social aspect of the game
dungeons ok. ava, will wait for it to mature. but group lvling/questing is terrible.
i play with many many friends and we are alway on ts. but eso makes group lvling/questing almost impossible. i hope this get improved soon. its probably my biggest dislike of the game.
btw for those saying the game is all good & holy. asking haters to leave no comment is understandable but pls also know that there are some of us who love ES and want to love ESO but cannot as (in our opinions) it is not good enough. for instance i have purchased the game (imperial edition). not because i think it worths my money but i want to support the game. the serie. the rpg. the mmo. i rly hope it somehow get massive improvements soon.
I agree with the OP on almost every point he made. I leveled to 25 with a few friends once we started playing on different times the phasing become a big problem when he wanted to play together again. This game most definitely feel like a solo grinder which I expected coming into it, but I didn't expect simple grinding with friends would be such a pain. The questing is standard fare disregarding the bugs here and there. While I disagree with Skyrim being all that tactical , the combat is ESO seem like they are trying to trick players into thinking its very action based as hovering your cursor over things just select it, little to no skill shots. Being able to swap weapon sets did pick up the pacing a bit on the bright side.
I didn't get much of a chance to try the PvP so I will reverse my opinion on that, but so far it does feel like a single player game with a sub.
You wont like my review of the game, and you may even think I am being far too critical. But I wanted to get this off of my chest and talk about the reasons why I am disappointed in this game.
I started to form this impression a long time ago, however, I was tied by the NDA. I will try not to make this too long, but I have a lot I want to say.
I am very disappointed:
Reason 1: Solo... again: The game revolves around the solo experience. If you are like me and come from games like EQ, DAOC, these solo centric games are very underwhelming. The game phases everything, almost every quest affects what phase you are in. You will never see the same people twice, and the game does not have any social aspects. Outside of clicking a LFG panel, the game has zero social systems. Why mmo developers dump so much money into solo gameplay I will never understand.
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 3: very sloppy and dull combat: Skyrim's combat pretty fun, it was tight, and strategic. ESO's combat is a sloppy version of that, mixed with mmo tab targeting. About 20 minutes into the game I was already extremely bored with my character.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
Reason 5: MMO on rails: This sort of ties in with reason 1. The game is all scripted, besides going to Cyrodil and doing some PVP. Other than that, you jump from quest to quest following a primary story line. This “story driven mmo” trend destroys any excitement mmos have for me. Devs dump all their resources into writing story lines and making cut scenes, which makes the actual game really shallow.
Reason 5: Players are just scenery: there is no reason in this game to communicate or team up with a anyone. Simply use a dungeon finder for a group, and that's it. I thought SWTOR was anti social, Eso is far worse. This game does not promote any player collaboration. Dark anchors and dungeon finders are not it.
Reason 6: My BIGEEST reason.. phasing: The point of phasing is to try and make the world feel like it is changing, but it destroys immersion. The experience isn't shared and that's what makes phasing so pointless in an mmo. It feels so artificial because the phase I am seeing is different for everyone else, so it isn't truly what the world is. It separates players and makes the game feel really lonely. Phasing has no place in an mmo where it is supposed to be a shared world.
ESO is a single player game with a subscription fee.
Conclusion: For me, mmo excitement derives from shared experience with players, exploring a world that is unknown and dangerous. An MMO that tries to force feed a story, or create a game that is phased with scripts will not create lasting gaming memories.
The bottom line is, if you did not like swtor, you will not like this. Besides combat, it has almost the exact same game design; solo questing and scripts, with virtually no community.
Yay. Another disingenuous and false presentation by another ESO hater.
1) It's not just solo. There is solo content and if you didn't level past 10 you didn't need anyone else. Once you get farther into the game there are public dungeons, open world bosses, group dungeons across 3 factions, alliance war, dark anchors, adventure zones. The lack of an AH system will require more interaction with others. I don't agree with this but selling from a guild store outside the guild will require a pretty big group effort. The crafting/harvesting system will be integral to progression and should provide a fair amount of interdependence between players. Crafted items will have the creators name on them which will likely contribute to this interplay between buyers and sellers. It's beyond ironic that you mention DAoC here considering the PvP is most like DAoC and hardly "solo" but that didn't deter you from smearing ESO. If you gave a fair or accurate assessment you wouldn't say this is a solo game.
2) The questing is one of the best parts of this game. It's done very well so if you skip the voiceovers and turn them into meaningless fetch quests that's on you not the game. *Most* people will enjoy this aspect of the game. What did you expect, exactly?
3) I agree that the combat could use some tightening up and tweaking and I'm confident that will happen but to say Skyrim was good whereas this isn't is a stretch. Skyrim (and Oblivion) were always panned for their combat as being rather clunky. ESO combat is very similar in it's execution but I would say it's better because you have options to interrupt, block and power attack. Skyrim/Oblivion combat was always their weakest point so again..nice try smearing ESO.
4) You must not have played past level 10. The fact that you would even compare this game to SWTOR just clearly shows that you either don't know what you are talking about or are just throwing in hateful comments to smear the game. Nice try but anyone who has played both of these games knows how utterly false this comment is. There is more exploration in this game than any MMO I can think of. People will be pleased with the exploration aspect and rewarded with chests, experience, skyshards, harvesting and many amazing details for exploring the world outside the standard points of interest on the map (unlike SWTOR).
5) This is just a rehash of your first point. Further proof you are merely trying to pile on hateful comments to make the game look worse because you don't like it or have some ulterior motive.
6) This is the only point I would somewhat agree with. I don't mind that they have phasing but I think their implementation of it needs some work. It's not always working as expected and chops things up in ways that are disruptive to group play. That being said the devs have been quite responsive so I have confidence they will improve it.
Conclusion: You hate this game for whatever reason or have ulterior motives and want it to fail so feel the need to smear the game and turn people away. Maybe you haven't seen enough of the game. Maybe it's just not your type of game. I don't know what the reason is but if you are going to post negative comments about it at least post *accurate* comments. The game is buggy. The animations need work. The combat could be tightened up a bit. The phasing. All accurate complaints and all are easily fixable.
The bottom line is this game is NOTHING like SWTOR. If you like ES and/or MMOs the game is worth a try. It might not ultimately be your type of game but don't base your decision on misinformation and blind hate from posts like this.
Sorry, but accusing people with different opinions as being wrong because of conspiracy theories completely weakens your arguments.
It is actually very similar to SWTOR. You have to grind quests, and the quests are all voiced. At max this changes a bit, but you have no other options. You must grind the quests.
If you want to level up fast then yes you can solo most of the quests and you will be max level very fast. If you want to enjoy the game then get a group and just explore and kill the mobs you see and just do the main quests and you will find the game is much more fun. I think this game was built to cater for two types of players those that want to max out fast for what ever reason and those that want to play a MMO like it should be played.
This game when you play it like we used to play EQ and just do quests when you come across one on your travels and not just run between one quest and another one is more like old school MMO than any game i have played since SWG.
I had 3 friends and we spent 4 hours just enjoying finding gear and discovering all the hidden features and dungeons and we all agree it was huge fun and cant wait till it releses.
If you want to level up fast then yes you can solo most of the quests and you will be max level very fast. If you want to enjoy the game then get a group and just explore and kill the mobs you see and just do the main quests and you will find the game is much more fun. I think this game was built to cater for two types of players those that want to max out fast for what ever reason and those that want to play a MMO like it should be played.
This game when you play it like we used to play EQ and just do quests when you come across one on your travels and not just run between one quest and another one is more like old school MMO than any game i have played since SWG.
I had 3 friends and we spent 4 hours just enjoying finding gear and discovering all the hidden features and dungeons and we all agree it was huge fun and cant wait till it releses.
Unfortunately, the miniscule amount of exp from grinding mobs pretty much forces you to either quest or get left far, far behind. I spent quite a bit of time in one of the dungeons (if you want to call them that) and tried to level. After awhile I realized that if I wanted to get to level 10 and try out PvP then I'd have to get on the quest grind.
If Zen would have wanted an alternate way of leveling other then just questing then they wouldn't have made the exp from mobs so low. If grinding mobs were an option then the speed of exp would be similar whether questing or grinding or (whatever kind of playstyle..pvp included)
It's a quest grinder like SWTOR... and in ESO exploration results in just more quests.
I played EQ for 8 years.... feels absolutely nothing like EQ quests...which IMO are real quests (example; staff of temp flux, Coldain Prayer Shawl quest, Epics). ESO quests are IMO just a repeat of fetch/kill 5-15 minute 'tasks' which for those that love these great... for those that don't there are limited options for their playstyle.
I kept looking for the value from $60 initial purchase plus $15/month, and never found it. I am certainly not cheap - currently subscribed to EO (and have subscribed to many other games over the last 10 - 12 years - yeah AC), and have over a dozen or so purchased games, but I do want value for my money.
I have asked before for a feature list for ESO that justifies the cost and shows where it goes beyond currently F2P games - still waiting. I'm sure I will get the same tired attacks from this post - again, absent a clear justification of the subscription fees.
It was a strangely solo-centric experience for a MMO. My wife and I tried grouping and doing quests together, but it was as if we need to always be on different steps - maybe that was just a tutorial thing, but it was discouraging group play. I was told by someone online - no end-game raiding? Again, strange not to find that in a MMO.
This all feels like the same run-up hype that went with SWTOR, except many honest game sites are being a bit more "meh" about ESO.
Maybe I'll look again after a year of content and polish, and perhaps a F2P model.
It almost sounds as if you played a different game than I was.
How on earth is this "solo" game? I don;t even know where to start as everything in the OP I have to strongly disagree with.
Because the only way to level up is via questing, which can all be soloed.
Thers AvAvA to level up, even dungeons helped leveling. Theres more ways than just questing to level up.
I loved the questing tho.. VERY Elder Scrollish stuff. I enjoyed it a lot. The rewards where pretty cool to for questing, and you get to actually play an RPG in an MMO. I like that shit.
You wont like my review of the game, and you may even think I am being far too critical. But I wanted to get this off of my chest and talk about the reasons why I am disappointed in this game.
I started to form this impression a long time ago, however, I was tied by the NDA. I will try not to make this too long, but I have a lot I want to say.
I am very disappointed:
Reason 1: Solo... again: The game revolves around the solo experience. If you are like me and come from games like EQ, DAOC, these solo centric games are very underwhelming. The game phases everything, almost every quest affects what phase you are in. You will never see the same people twice, and the game does not have any social aspects. Outside of clicking a LFG panel, the game has zero social systems. Why mmo developers dump so much money into solo gameplay I will never understand.
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 3: very sloppy and dull combat: Skyrim's combat pretty fun, it was tight, and strategic. ESO's combat is a sloppy version of that, mixed with mmo tab targeting. About 20 minutes into the game I was already extremely bored with my character.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
Reason 5: MMO on rails: This sort of ties in with reason 1. The game is all scripted, besides going to Cyrodil and doing some PVP. Other than that, you jump from quest to quest following a primary story line. This “story driven mmo” trend destroys any excitement mmos have for me. Devs dump all their resources into writing story lines and making cut scenes, which makes the actual game really shallow.
Reason 5: Players are just scenery: there is no reason in this game to communicate or team up with a anyone. Simply use a dungeon finder for a group, and that's it. I thought SWTOR was anti social, Eso is far worse. This game does not promote any player collaboration. Dark anchors and dungeon finders are not it.
Reason 6: My BIGEEST reason.. phasing: The point of phasing is to try and make the world feel like it is changing, but it destroys immersion. The experience isn't shared and that's what makes phasing so pointless in an mmo. It feels so artificial because the phase I am seeing is different for everyone else, so it isn't truly what the world is. It separates players and makes the game feel really lonely. Phasing has no place in an mmo where it is supposed to be a shared world.
ESO is a single player game with a subscription fee.
Conclusion: For me, mmo excitement derives from shared experience with players, exploring a world that is unknown and dangerous. An MMO that tries to force feed a story, or create a game that is phased with scripts will not create lasting gaming memories.
The bottom line is, if you did not like swtor, you will not like this. Besides combat, it has almost the exact same game design; solo questing and scripts, with virtually no community.
I agree with pretty much every single one of your points.
But, i still like the game enough to buy it and play it for a couple of months. (hopefully it's a couple). It's pretty much the only major MMO coming out in the next couple of years that doesn't look visually like it's aimed as 4yr-olds.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
@2: very wrong if u skip text,viose etc. how are you going to enjoy the quest??????? by killing yeah good luck fundung this kind of mmo
@4: did u know that there are hiding quests all over the place i found 2 quests that my freind didnt even knew about and that's in lvl 5 alone
This game is diffrent i give you that but everything u said, is almost in every mmo that is about to lunch so....
One thing I heard (read) over and over throughout the weekend were comments about how great the community was. Different factions, different times but it was a pretty constant occurrence. Usually associated with someone answering someones elses' 'how do I....' question.
Not exactly grouping (though a few were about grouping of course) but quite social.
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
@2: very wrong if u skip text,viose etc. how are you going to enjoy the quest??????? by killing yeah good luck fundung this kind of mmo
@4: did u know that there are hiding quests all over the place i found 2 quests that my freind didnt even knew about and that's in lvl 5 alone
This game is diffrent i give you that but everything u said, is almost in every mmo that is about to lunch so....
Some people do not like questing and only do it if they are forced to pretty much. It gets to be just a repeat of fetch/kill/etc. to them.
Adventuring and just finding more quests doesn't help the situation.
Pay no attention to the fanboy anger replies to your review, OP. They will be singing the same tune about 30 days into release. Happens every time with these lame MMORPG games we're getting today.
I feel the same way about ESO and every other MMORPG where the experience is focused on shallow single-player experience. This game bored me to death.
People talk about how awesome the graphics are too, but I don't see it. The game has a very plastic look with zero atmosphere, IMO.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
@2: very wrong if u skip text,viose etc. how are you going to enjoy the quest??????? by killing yeah good luck fundung this kind of mmo
@4: did u know that there are hiding quests all over the place i found 2 quests that my freind didnt even knew about and that's in lvl 5 alone
This game is diffrent i give you that but everything u said, is almost in every mmo that is about to lunch so....
Some people do not like questing and only do it if they are forced to pretty much. It gets to be just a repeat of fetch/kill/etc. to them.
Adventuring and just finding more quests doesn't help the situation.
if they dont like it its another thing what bothers me is they dont read it and they say its boring
the idea of a quest is (atleast in this game) discovering the story knowing what is and what will happen
You wont like my review of the game, and you may even think I am being far too critical. But I wanted to get this off of my chest and talk about the reasons why I am disappointed in this game.
I started to form this impression a long time ago, however, I was tied by the NDA. I will try not to make this too long, but I have a lot I want to say.
I am very disappointed:
Reason 1: Solo... again: The game revolves around the solo experience. If you are like me and come from games like EQ, DAOC, these solo centric games are very underwhelming. The game phases everything, almost every quest affects what phase you are in. You will never see the same people twice, and the game does not have any social aspects. Outside of clicking a LFG panel, the game has zero social systems. Why mmo developers dump so much money into solo gameplay I will never understand.
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 3: very sloppy and dull combat: Skyrim's combat pretty fun, it was tight, and strategic. ESO's combat is a sloppy version of that, mixed with mmo tab targeting. About 20 minutes into the game I was already extremely bored with my character.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
Reason 5: MMO on rails: This sort of ties in with reason 1. The game is all scripted, besides going to Cyrodil and doing some PVP. Other than that, you jump from quest to quest following a primary story line. This “story driven mmo” trend destroys any excitement mmos have for me. Devs dump all their resources into writing story lines and making cut scenes, which makes the actual game really shallow.
Reason 5: Players are just scenery: there is no reason in this game to communicate or team up with a anyone. Simply use a dungeon finder for a group, and that's it. I thought SWTOR was anti social, Eso is far worse. This game does not promote any player collaboration. Dark anchors and dungeon finders are not it.
Reason 6: My BIGEEST reason.. phasing: The point of phasing is to try and make the world feel like it is changing, but it destroys immersion. The experience isn't shared and that's what makes phasing so pointless in an mmo. It feels so artificial because the phase I am seeing is different for everyone else, so it isn't truly what the world is. It separates players and makes the game feel really lonely. Phasing has no place in an mmo where it is supposed to be a shared world.
ESO is a single player game with a subscription fee.
Conclusion: For me, mmo excitement derives from shared experience with players, exploring a world that is unknown and dangerous. An MMO that tries to force feed a story, or create a game that is phased with scripts will not create lasting gaming memories.
The bottom line is, if you did not like swtor, you will not like this. Besides combat, it has almost the exact same game design; solo questing and scripts, with virtually no community.
Yay. Another disingenuous and false presentation by another ESO hater.
1) It's not just solo. There is solo content and if you didn't level past 10 you didn't need anyone else. Once you get farther into the game there are public dungeons, open world bosses, group dungeons across 3 factions, alliance war, dark anchors, adventure zones. The lack of an AH system will require more interaction with others. I don't agree with this but selling from a guild store outside the guild will require a pretty big group effort. The crafting/harvesting system will be integral to progression and should provide a fair amount of interdependence between players. Crafted items will have the creators name on them which will likely contribute to this interplay between buyers and sellers. It's beyond ironic that you mention DAoC here considering the PvP is most like DAoC and hardly "solo" but that didn't deter you from smearing ESO. If you gave a fair or accurate assessment you wouldn't say this is a solo game.
2) The questing is one of the best parts of this game. It's done very well so if you skip the voiceovers and turn them into meaningless fetch quests that's on you not the game. *Most* people will enjoy this aspect of the game. What did you expect, exactly?
3) I agree that the combat could use some tightening up and tweaking and I'm confident that will happen but to say Skyrim was good whereas this isn't is a stretch. Skyrim (and Oblivion) were always panned for their combat as being rather clunky. ESO combat is very similar in it's execution but I would say it's better because you have options to interrupt, block and power attack. Skyrim/Oblivion combat was always their weakest point so again..nice try smearing ESO.
4) You must not have played past level 10. The fact that you would even compare this game to SWTOR just clearly shows that you either don't know what you are talking about or are just throwing in hateful comments to smear the game. Nice try but anyone who has played both of these games knows how utterly false this comment is. There is more exploration in this game than any MMO I can think of. People will be pleased with the exploration aspect and rewarded with chests, experience, skyshards, harvesting and many amazing details for exploring the world outside the standard points of interest on the map (unlike SWTOR).
5) This is just a rehash of your first point. Further proof you are merely trying to pile on hateful comments to make the game look worse because you don't like it or have some ulterior motive.
6) This is the only point I would somewhat agree with. I don't mind that they have phasing but I think their implementation of it needs some work. It's not always working as expected and chops things up in ways that are disruptive to group play. That being said the devs have been quite responsive so I have confidence they will improve it.
Conclusion: You hate this game for whatever reason or have ulterior motives and want it to fail so feel the need to smear the game and turn people away. Maybe you haven't seen enough of the game. Maybe it's just not your type of game. I don't know what the reason is but if you are going to post negative comments about it at least post *accurate* comments. The game is buggy. The animations need work. The combat could be tightened up a bit. The phasing. All accurate complaints and all are easily fixable.
The bottom line is this game is NOTHING like SWTOR. If you like ES and/or MMOs the game is worth a try. It might not ultimately be your type of game but don't base your decision on misinformation and blind hate from posts like this.
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
@2: very wrong if u skip text,viose etc. how are you going to enjoy the quest??????? by killing yeah good luck fundung this kind of mmo
@4: did u know that there are hiding quests all over the place i found 2 quests that my freind didnt even knew about and that's in lvl 5 alone
This game is diffrent i give you that but everything u said, is almost in every mmo that is about to lunch so....
Some people do not like questing and only do it if they are forced to pretty much. It gets to be just a repeat of fetch/kill/etc. to them.
Adventuring and just finding more quests doesn't help the situation.
if they dont like it its another thing what bothers me is they dont read it and they say its boring
the idea of a quest is (atleast in this game) discovering the story knowing what is and what will happen
but i guess its like every mmo doom and gloom
Being an avid book reader, I find quest stories to be lacking in many ways. Reading poorly written quest text does not improve the game for me.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
It almost sounds as if you played a different game than I was.
How on earth is this "solo" game? I don;t even know where to start as everything in the OP I have to strongly disagree with.
Because the only way to level up is via questing, which can all be soloed.
Thers AvAvA to level up, even dungeons helped leveling. Theres more ways than just questing to level up.
I loved the questing tho.. VERY Elder Scrollish stuff. I enjoyed it a lot. The rewards where pretty cool to for questing, and you get to actually play an RPG in an MMO. I like that shit.
It is a coop single player rpg, which you seem to think is good. This is an MMO though. What will you do when the single player coop game runs out? All that time and effort, and what will it do to keep you playing once you cleared it?
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR.
@2: very wrong if u skip text,viose etc. how are you going to enjoy the quest??????? by killing yeah good luck fundung this kind of mmo
@4: did u know that there are hiding quests all over the place i found 2 quests that my freind didnt even knew about and that's in lvl 5 alone
This game is diffrent i give you that but everything u said, is almost in every mmo that is about to lunch so....
Some people do not like questing and only do it if they are forced to pretty much. It gets to be just a repeat of fetch/kill/etc. to them.
Adventuring and just finding more quests doesn't help the situation.
if they dont like it its another thing what bothers me is they dont read it and they say its boring
the idea of a quest is (atleast in this game) discovering the story knowing what is and what will happen
but i guess its like every mmo doom and gloom
Some people find the generic quests in single player games, and even worse, in mmos, to be simply awful "stories" and aren't entertained by it. I play mmos for player interaction and longevity, not to play a single player game with a "story" which has 10000s of "heroes" doing the exact same thing.
It depends on how well the develop the singular part of ESO to justify the phasing. The fact an MMO shows change similar to a single player game already has my interest.
Too bad the combat is not something I would normally enjoy in an MMO, and it seems like a big victim to lag which seems to already be a problem in most games I play as it is.
Generally speaking phasing can be justified since it does try to reweard the solo experience... but at the end of the day they are an MMO and they are also taking from the elder series. Juggling between these different core elements should make them realize their priorities in how to develop their mmo.
Firstly in MMOs, combat is one of the most important. Or any game. If its bad here, in ESO, then well not much good for any rest of the game. It might as well be a F2P game, but again, that is subjective. I have not tried the combat, but I do normally like FPS games which is similar to that combat mixed with MMO combat. Sounds good, but looks average.
Then having singular parts of their game mixed with ESO. The main quest line should be phased. That makes sense from a singular story perspective, with some side quests.
The other aspect of questing can in the open world and including dynamic events similar to the expected quality in single player games and now in MMOs.
Variety - MMOs and single player games have this. its not just mini games or other systems, but also variety in combat. Mounted combat etc, and building something specific for that as well. For example a situation that would clearly encourage mounted combat or the use of a mount as per part of the quest to avoid projectiles and go to a better location to use ground combat. Something phased quests can offer mixing up combat in ESO.
Then ofc the other expected aspects of MMOs (raids/end game). auction house or no auction house. If there is no auction house, then what are the expectations for crafting without an auction house? Or housing without an auction house.
And ESO does not have housing, but also does not have an auction house. It already seems like a mistake imo, but easily introduced later while still making everythign just as important... but its about having a lot of content to make their game fun.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
You wont like my review of the game, and you may even think I am being far too critical. But I wanted to get this off of my chest and talk about the reasons why I am disappointed in this game.
I started to form this impression a long time ago, however, I was tied by the NDA. I will try not to make this too long, but I have a lot I want to say.
I am very disappointed:
Reason 1: Solo... again: The game revolves around the solo experience. If you are like me and come from games like EQ, DAOC, these solo centric games are very underwhelming. The game phases everything, almost every quest affects what phase you are in. You will never see the same people twice, and the game does not have any social aspects. Outside of clicking a LFG panel, the game has zero social systems. Why mmo developers dump so much money into solo gameplay I will never understand. I've grouped more in ESO than I have in the last 4 MMOs I've played. Some of the quests and public dungeons are very difficult due to shear number of mobs or difficulty of a few mobs.
Reason 2: Questing, all questing: The only real way to get EXP is to do what you have been doing in every single mmo since 2005. Grab quests, skip the voice overs, kill x, return. The questing in this game is so tedious and unexciting. You talk of how much you enjoyed Skyrim. That's a lot of questing as well.
Reason 3: very sloppy and dull combat: Skyrim's combat pretty fun, it was tight, and strategic. ESO's combat is a sloppy version of that, mixed with mmo tab targeting. About 20 minutes into the game I was already extremely bored with my character. Mobs that move to flank, mobs that use synergy abilities like one throwing oil on the ground and the other using a flaming arrow to ignite it. I haven't seen that by lvl 1 - 10 mobs in an MMO in the last few games I've tried. Also, I've found the combat to be very tactical. Active dodge and block skills. Block/stunning heavy attacks and countering with a heavy attack of your own. Oh, and what tab targeting? You have to aim to hit? Granted the melee hit box is a little to big, but it seemed like even that was a little smaller this weekend.
Reason 4: what I loved about Skrim, is not in ESO: Exploration in ESO is very underwhelming. Exploration in ESO is about as exciting as it was in SWTOR. Get off the newbie isle. The game gets very big, and very open, very fast.
Reason 5: MMO on rails: This sort of ties in with reason 1. The game is all scripted, besides going to Cyrodil and doing some PVP. Other than that, you jump from quest to quest following a primary story line. This “story driven mmo” trend destroys any excitement mmos have for me. Devs dump all their resources into writing story lines and making cut scenes, which makes the actual game really shallow. The newbie isle is on rails yes. But, I believe that's meant to ease traditional MMO themepark players into the ESO world. After that, the main story is a very small aspect of the game and you can roam all over doing whatever it is you want.
Reason 5: Players are just scenery: there is no reason in this game to communicate or team up with a anyone. Simply use a dungeon finder for a group, and that's it. I thought SWTOR was anti social, Eso is far worse. This game does not promote any player collaboration. Dark anchors and dungeon finders are not it.No Auction House, so you actually have to talk to people to trade. Elite mob areas, public dungeons, PvP, Dark Anchors, Quest stories that require help, yeah, no reason to group at all.
Reason 6: My BIGEEST reason.. phasing: The point of phasing is to try and make the world feel like it is changing, but it destroys immersion. The experience isn't shared and that's what makes phasing so pointless in an mmo. It feels so artificial because the phase I am seeing is different for everyone else, so it isn't truly what the world is. It separates players and makes the game feel really lonely. Phasing has no place in an mmo where it is supposed to be a shared world.This I won't dispute too much. It doesn't bother me in the least and I still found a ton more reasons to group but, I can understand why people don't like this.
ESO is a single player game with a subscription fee. No, it really isn't. I'm sad that you didn't stick around long enough to find that out.
Conclusion: For me, mmo excitement derives from shared experience with players, exploring a world that is unknown and dangerous. An MMO that tries to force feed a story, or create a game that is phased with scripts will not create lasting gaming memories.I agree, communities drive games. I disagree that you think it won't happen here.
The bottom line is, if you did not like swtor, you will not like this. Besides combat, it has almost the exact same game design; solo questing and scripts, with virtually no community. I disagree. I loathed SWTOR and I so wanted SWTOR to be awesome. It disappointed me greatly. However, in my 4 beta weekends, ESO has been a very pleasant surprise.
You and I had two very different experiences in ESO. I'm sad you didn't find what you were looking for, but I hope you do find a game that strikes the right chord for you.
Oooh go make your bad flaming review and cry like everyone else, there's a lot of others MMOs out there, I'm sure some will suit you! Sadly this one wasnt your MMO!
That's the issue though. Almost every MMO that's released over the past decade have been glorified online-single-player-RPGs. So chances are there isn't one out there that will suit him unless he goes old-school.
As for the OP, I completely agree. It's not so much the fact that there is solo content, it's the fact that it's forced solo content. Solo content makes up the bulk of the game. Most of the lore comes from single player content and much of the exp gain and skill shards come from solo content. You simply can't avoid it.
So you got two or three choices. Play solo to get the lore/story/exp/skill points. Play the solo content in a group for zero challenge, or avoid all of the solo content all together and gimp your exp gain and skill point pool.
I am hoping EQN will have a better way of handling grouping and solo content. Maybe dungeon instances with an option to be entered as group or solo in difficulty level (with scaling rewards). Maybe just a lot less focus on questing, so that you can just focus on fighting group content and not be forced down solo paths.
ESO does a good job as a single player RPG... but the point of ESO was to create a multiplayer TES experience.... but instead they just made another single player game that you can see other single player characters questing at the same time.
Comments
there was a questionaire sent from dev asking for thoughts on various stuffs. i did also comment that the game felt too much skyrim and not enough of (in my case) Morrowind. which is a shame because i think Morrowind is one of the best RPGs and much more could be pulled from it.
re: social aspect of the game
dungeons ok. ava, will wait for it to mature. but group lvling/questing is terrible.
i play with many many friends and we are alway on ts. but eso makes group lvling/questing almost impossible. i hope this get improved soon. its probably my biggest dislike of the game.
btw for those saying the game is all good & holy. asking haters to leave no comment is understandable but pls also know that there are some of us who love ES and want to love ESO but cannot as (in our opinions) it is not good enough. for instance i have purchased the game (imperial edition). not because i think it worths my money but i want to support the game. the serie. the rpg. the mmo. i rly hope it somehow get massive improvements soon.
This.
Sum it up pretty well.
Sorry, but accusing people with different opinions as being wrong because of conspiracy theories completely weakens your arguments.
It is actually very similar to SWTOR. You have to grind quests, and the quests are all voiced. At max this changes a bit, but you have no other options. You must grind the quests.
Because the only way to level up is via questing, which can all be soloed.
If you want to level up fast then yes you can solo most of the quests and you will be max level very fast. If you want to enjoy the game then get a group and just explore and kill the mobs you see and just do the main quests and you will find the game is much more fun. I think this game was built to cater for two types of players those that want to max out fast for what ever reason and those that want to play a MMO like it should be played.
This game when you play it like we used to play EQ and just do quests when you come across one on your travels and not just run between one quest and another one is more like old school MMO than any game i have played since SWG.
I had 3 friends and we spent 4 hours just enjoying finding gear and discovering all the hidden features and dungeons and we all agree it was huge fun and cant wait till it releses.
Unfortunately, the miniscule amount of exp from grinding mobs pretty much forces you to either quest or get left far, far behind. I spent quite a bit of time in one of the dungeons (if you want to call them that) and tried to level. After awhile I realized that if I wanted to get to level 10 and try out PvP then I'd have to get on the quest grind.
If Zen would have wanted an alternate way of leveling other then just questing then they wouldn't have made the exp from mobs so low. If grinding mobs were an option then the speed of exp would be similar whether questing or grinding or (whatever kind of playstyle..pvp included)
It's a quest grinder like SWTOR... and in ESO exploration results in just more quests.
I played EQ for 8 years.... feels absolutely nothing like EQ quests...which IMO are real quests (example; staff of temp flux, Coldain Prayer Shawl quest, Epics). ESO quests are IMO just a repeat of fetch/kill 5-15 minute 'tasks' which for those that love these great... for those that don't there are limited options for their playstyle.
Palazious <The Vindicators> Darkfall
Palazious r40, rr45 SW War
Palazious 50 Pirate PoTBS
Palazious 35 Sorcerer Vanguard
Palazious 75 wizard EQ
Paladori 50 Champion LOTRO
Poppa Reaver bugged at rank15
I'm pretty sure that there will be quests that force you to clear a 4-man dungeon. You can't solo that.
I kept looking for the value from $60 initial purchase plus $15/month, and never found it. I am certainly not cheap - currently subscribed to EO (and have subscribed to many other games over the last 10 - 12 years - yeah AC), and have over a dozen or so purchased games, but I do want value for my money.
I have asked before for a feature list for ESO that justifies the cost and shows where it goes beyond currently F2P games - still waiting. I'm sure I will get the same tired attacks from this post - again, absent a clear justification of the subscription fees.
It was a strangely solo-centric experience for a MMO. My wife and I tried grouping and doing quests together, but it was as if we need to always be on different steps - maybe that was just a tutorial thing, but it was discouraging group play. I was told by someone online - no end-game raiding? Again, strange not to find that in a MMO.
This all feels like the same run-up hype that went with SWTOR, except many honest game sites are being a bit more "meh" about ESO.
Maybe I'll look again after a year of content and polish, and perhaps a F2P model.
Thers AvAvA to level up, even dungeons helped leveling. Theres more ways than just questing to level up.
I loved the questing tho.. VERY Elder Scrollish stuff. I enjoyed it a lot. The rewards where pretty cool to for questing, and you get to actually play an RPG in an MMO. I like that shit.
I agree with pretty much every single one of your points.
But, i still like the game enough to buy it and play it for a couple of months. (hopefully it's a couple). It's pretty much the only major MMO coming out in the next couple of years that doesn't look visually like it's aimed as 4yr-olds.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
@2: very wrong if u skip text,viose etc.
how are you going to enjoy the quest??????? by killing yeah good luck fundung this kind of mmo
@4: did u know that there are hiding quests all over the place i found 2 quests that my freind didnt even knew about and that's in lvl 5 alone
This game is diffrent i give you that but everything u said, is almost in every mmo that is about to lunch so....
One thing I heard (read) over and over throughout the weekend were comments about how great the community was. Different factions, different times but it was a pretty constant occurrence. Usually associated with someone answering someones elses' 'how do I....' question.
Not exactly grouping (though a few were about grouping of course) but quite social.
Some people do not like questing and only do it if they are forced to pretty much. It gets to be just a repeat of fetch/kill/etc. to them.
Adventuring and just finding more quests doesn't help the situation.
Palazious <The Vindicators> Darkfall
Palazious r40, rr45 SW War
Palazious 50 Pirate PoTBS
Palazious 35 Sorcerer Vanguard
Palazious 75 wizard EQ
Paladori 50 Champion LOTRO
Poppa Reaver bugged at rank15
Pay no attention to the fanboy anger replies to your review, OP. They will be singing the same tune about 30 days into release. Happens every time with these lame MMORPG games we're getting today.
I feel the same way about ESO and every other MMORPG where the experience is focused on shallow single-player experience. This game bored me to death.
People talk about how awesome the graphics are too, but I don't see it. The game has a very plastic look with zero atmosphere, IMO.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
if they dont like it its another thing what bothers me is they dont read it and they say its boring
the idea of a quest is (atleast in this game) discovering the story knowing what is and what will happen
but i guess its like every mmo doom and gloom
+10
Being an avid book reader, I find quest stories to be lacking in many ways. Reading poorly written quest text does not improve the game for me.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
It is a coop single player rpg, which you seem to think is good. This is an MMO though. What will you do when the single player coop game runs out? All that time and effort, and what will it do to keep you playing once you cleared it?
Some people find the generic quests in single player games, and even worse, in mmos, to be simply awful "stories" and aren't entertained by it. I play mmos for player interaction and longevity, not to play a single player game with a "story" which has 10000s of "heroes" doing the exact same thing.
It depends on how well the develop the singular part of ESO to justify the phasing. The fact an MMO shows change similar to a single player game already has my interest.
Too bad the combat is not something I would normally enjoy in an MMO, and it seems like a big victim to lag which seems to already be a problem in most games I play as it is.
Generally speaking phasing can be justified since it does try to reweard the solo experience... but at the end of the day they are an MMO and they are also taking from the elder series. Juggling between these different core elements should make them realize their priorities in how to develop their mmo.
Firstly in MMOs, combat is one of the most important. Or any game. If its bad here, in ESO, then well not much good for any rest of the game. It might as well be a F2P game, but again, that is subjective. I have not tried the combat, but I do normally like FPS games which is similar to that combat mixed with MMO combat. Sounds good, but looks average.
Then having singular parts of their game mixed with ESO. The main quest line should be phased. That makes sense from a singular story perspective, with some side quests.
The other aspect of questing can in the open world and including dynamic events similar to the expected quality in single player games and now in MMOs.
Variety - MMOs and single player games have this. its not just mini games or other systems, but also variety in combat. Mounted combat etc, and building something specific for that as well. For example a situation that would clearly encourage mounted combat or the use of a mount as per part of the quest to avoid projectiles and go to a better location to use ground combat. Something phased quests can offer mixing up combat in ESO.
Then ofc the other expected aspects of MMOs (raids/end game). auction house or no auction house. If there is no auction house, then what are the expectations for crafting without an auction house? Or housing without an auction house.
And ESO does not have housing, but also does not have an auction house. It already seems like a mistake imo, but easily introduced later while still making everythign just as important... but its about having a lot of content to make their game fun.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
You and I had two very different experiences in ESO. I'm sad you didn't find what you were looking for, but I hope you do find a game that strikes the right chord for you.
That's the issue though. Almost every MMO that's released over the past decade have been glorified online-single-player-RPGs. So chances are there isn't one out there that will suit him unless he goes old-school.
As for the OP, I completely agree. It's not so much the fact that there is solo content, it's the fact that it's forced solo content. Solo content makes up the bulk of the game. Most of the lore comes from single player content and much of the exp gain and skill shards come from solo content. You simply can't avoid it.
So you got two or three choices. Play solo to get the lore/story/exp/skill points. Play the solo content in a group for zero challenge, or avoid all of the solo content all together and gimp your exp gain and skill point pool.
I am hoping EQN will have a better way of handling grouping and solo content. Maybe dungeon instances with an option to be entered as group or solo in difficulty level (with scaling rewards). Maybe just a lot less focus on questing, so that you can just focus on fighting group content and not be forced down solo paths.
ESO does a good job as a single player RPG... but the point of ESO was to create a multiplayer TES experience.... but instead they just made another single player game that you can see other single player characters questing at the same time.
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